The present invention is directed to wearable electronic devices generally, and in particular, to a wearable electronic device that comprises an analog display for the display of time information by using one or more indicators (e.g. hands) and a digital display having one or more digital indicators for displaying at least current time on the digital display, wherein the digital display is used to facilitate synchronization of the indicators of the analog display.
Generally speaking, in many electronic analog watches of a first type, it is not always the case that the microcontroller “knows” precisely where the indicators (e.g. hour and/or minute hands) are positioned. Watches of this first type are generally quartz analog watches. An easy example of this perceived “problem” can be seen in watches of this first type where a user pulls out a mechanical crown to (e.g.) adjust the hands. From the time that the crown is pulled out and/or rotated so as to adjust the position of the hour and minute hands (i.e. adjusting the displayed time), the microcontroller no longer “knows” where the hands are. Thus, in conventional analog watches of this quartz analog type and construction, there can be no signaling, via an internal or external signal or the like, for the watch to move its hands to 3:00 p.m. from an initial position if the watch is not already accurately displaying the correct time at the time such instruction or signal is given. That is, for example, if the microcontroller “thinks” the hands are at 2:00 p.m. but were previously manually adjusted to 1:30 p.m., having the watch move the hands ahead one (1) hour to the perceived 3:00 p.m. would still leave the hands inaccurately positioned, i.e. they would be off the requested setting by ½ hour.
Said a bit differently, there is an important distinction between “time adjustment” and “hand synchronization,” with examples of the former being more wide-spread in the prior art. That is, “time adjustment” may be accurate only if the indicator hands on the watch of this first type are positioned exactly where the microcontroller believes them to be (i.e. the indicator hands are indicating the correct time). In other words, the current state of the art does not adequately account for the situation when/if the microcontroller inside the watch of this first type believes the time is X but the actual position of the hands is indicating time Y (i.e. with X and Y being different times). In this latter situation, a “hand synchronization” in accordance with the present invention must be carried out so that the hands are synchronized to the correct time.
On the other hand, there are watches of a second type in which the indicator hands are always electronically coupled to the microcontroller, examples of which are known as “electroset” type watches. Such watches do not necessarily suffer from this perceived deficiency.
Analog radio controlled watches may be thought of as watches of yet a third type. Here the microcontroller “knows” where the hands are, and periodically, the watch's receiver may obtain local time. In such watches of this third type, hand position deviation can thus be periodically corrected. Such watches of this type may thus provide for synchronization between watch and the actual time.
Combination digital and analog watches are also known of the type illustrated in FIG. 14, although for obvious reasons, such watches are also unable to provide for the ease of hand synchronization as set forth herein.
While the present invention primarily concerns itself with synchronizing the hands of an analog display of a watch of the first type, the present invention is applicable to watches of these other types as would be understood in the art.
More specifically, it is believed that further advances to the state of the art are both desirable and achievable. In particular, it is desirable to provide watches with a hand synchronization functionality to more easily and accurately provide for accurate current time information and time adjustability on an analog display. It is also desirable to provide methodologies to carry out the foregoing functionality.